


Monster

by Punk_Grape



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Anger, Angst, Cussing, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punk_Grape/pseuds/Punk_Grape
Summary: Navy hasn’t had much success with his friends; meanwhile they enlist the help of Emperor to try and get through to him
Kudos: 4





	1. Part One - The Battle

It had been a downward spiral for some time, Navy saw it, trying his best to hide it around Sesame, he didn’t want him stressing about him any more than he already was. Navy only let it out when Sesame wasn’t around, which meant most of the time, it was during matches that he’d spiral out of control, at least in his mind. There was no trigger point that he could identify, just that at some point he started down a road of self doubt, and has been stumbling since. What he thought he knew about himself was called into question, and the idea that he just acted nice to get others to talk with him was truth.

Every passing hour, every passing day, the doubts grew inside; he wasn’t a good person, he didn’t deserve friends, he was a lie, a fake, putting on what he knew others wanted. Nothing was real, he didn’t even exist, as himself, how much of him had his brother shaped? He didn’t know who he was, without his past defining him, the traumas woven so deep, remove them and he’d cease to exist. 

He felt every inch the monster his past had spat him out as, sour at the world and everything in it, incapable of doing anything good; when had doing something positive ever worked out well for him? Every attempt at being nice, whether in the past or recently, had resulted in him being seen as a monster, a bad person, and when you hear something enough times, you start to believe it. 

So he decided to stop every effort he gave; he was the monster, right? Navy had no idea if his friends actually cared enough to notice, they certainly acted like they didn’t. No one voicing concerns at his destructive behaviour in matches, no one trying to understand his motives at least, but that only fit in even better with the narrative his mind spun; they didn’t care, no one cared, it was all a lie, everything was fake. 

While they had talked with him once already, he just assumed they’d forgotten, and he couldn’t blame them; he’d want to forget a monster too. Alone, just as he deserved in his mind, Navy focused everything on being what he thought everyone saw him as. 

Before, he’d fired missiles at everyone, and while he still did that, he actively sought out his ‘friends’ to target. When Bandi joined, she too was added to his personal hit list for matches, trying to get her especially, he knew if he targeted her, it would hurt Zip. The other two were harder to hurt, Navy not even sure he could hurt Hunter without just straight up saying something to his face, but that didn’t work for Navy. He preferred indirect, and would try to find a work around; with Vector, he tried booyahing every time he was splatted, as much as it drove Navy up the wall to do so. 

He didn’t respond to any of them when they tried to talk to him, no amount of them asking what was wrong got through; it got to a point, even if they were on the same team, he would jump back to spawn to avoid them. It was hard, it hurt him, but he hurt inside, he just couldn’t figure out if his friends had actually caused that hurt, or if he was just taking it out on them. The latter was entirely possible, he reasoned, managing emotional pain was never his strong point. 

After he’d had his fill of battles, he left abruptly, no one bothering to follow him, which Navy both wanted and didn’t want; he wanted someone to care, but someone caring would just be annoying to him. The walk home was enough space to clear his head, so when he finally arrived, he was more or less his normal self with Sesame; he didn’t have a problem or pain around him, thankfully, only his friends. 

His friends were annoyed, though in a different way than Navy had wanted. After he’d left, the group had also split from turf, ending up on a bus to the square. “Something is wrong,” Hunter stated, everyone nodding. “Wish he’d tell us at least.” 

“He was being an ass again, do you think it’s like last time he acted out?” Zip questioned, but the other three only shrugged, who knew, he was a very secretive person. 

“I’ve never actually seen him do that... it was bizarre,” Vector muttered, referring to what Navy did with the booyahs. “This is different, he was after us specifically.” 

Zip crossed his arms in thought, Bandi holding onto him for support as the bus hit a bump. “He’s attacking friends, and would run away if anyone got close...” she thought out loud. 

Hunter looked at the ground. “We need to get him to break, snap, vent, whatever. I hate to say it, but we may need to ask for help.” 

His teammates both shook their heads. “Bad idea,” Zip said. 

“If he finds out we asked him to do this, I don’t want to see how self destructive Navy can get.” 

Hunter waved off their concerns. “Don’t worry, when he finally gets broken through, he’ll understand if he finds out, but honestly, it’s not really out of his character to bug Navy.” 

The group wouldn’t see the result for a few days; first they had to ask Emperor to help, that was a quick yes, but Navy took a few days break from socializing at all, spending every moment at home with Sesame, his phone fully turned off. By the time he finally went out again, he felt a little better, until he saw his friends, then his mood darkened once more. 

Focused on them, he didn’t have time to realize Emperor was there before he walked up to him, grin wide. “What do we have here, shadow of mine?”

“Piss off, I’m not in the mood for your crap,” Navy responded, turning around to walk away from the square. 

“Aren’t you the rude one. And here I thought I’d help you.”

He knew that would get his attention, whether it’s curiosity or to retort, it didn’t matter, it got him to stay. “Emperor, the day you help me is the day hell freezes over,” Navy said as he turned to face him. “So what in hell do you think you can do that will be helpful?” 

“Oh, a few ideas have come to mind, I’m interested to see how far you’ll go though.” 

“Doesn’t sound fucking helpful, if it’s measuring how much I’ll stick around your bullshit.” 

Emperor grinned. “Oh, it will be helpful. Shall we get started with a battle?” 

Everything in Navy said no, he knew the outcome of said battle, he always lost, so why bother, but there was the small chance that it would finally happen, he’d beat him. “Fine, battle. Where?” 

“Reef, shall we?” 

The stage was large, too much for a one inkling team to cover fully, but Navy could still try. While he covered his spawn area, Emperor didn’t bother; sure, he inked as he walked, but he fully intended to cut Navy off and pin him. 

His plan worked, only because Navy was too stubborn and tried to splat Emperor, instead of just going to the left and inking along that way. Even with the height advantage, Navy still lost, and he couldn’t say he was surprised. “There, you beat me, happy?” he snapped at Emperor before hopping down to walk past him. 

“We’ve only started, shadow mine.” 

Three battles happened after the initial one, the next consistently worse than the last, until finally they ended up in Walleye, Emperor standing before Navy’s spawn, the shorter inkling sitting with his arms crossed. “How the fuck is this supposed to help? I feel like absolute shit thanks to you.” 

Emperor laughed. “I certainly feel better.” 

“Well no shit you feel better! You beat me four nothing, have gloated at every possible chance, not to mention that you’ve splatted me countless times. So yeah, thanks for making my day worse, jackass.” 

All Emperor did was raise a questioning eyebrow. “Do tell, shadow dearest.” 

Should Navy tell him? Probably not, but Emperor had basically given him free reign to yell at him, so why not? “Fuck it,” he grumbled. “I was already pissy from seeing my friends earlier,” he explained. 

“And what did your little friends do to make you ‘pissy’?” 

Navy let out a rush of air in frustration. “I don’t know. Or maybe I do, who fucking knows! I get fuck all for communication from them, they talked to everyone but me, I don’t know what the fuck I did wrong to get that. Then, after we have a little chat, it’s right back to the same fucking behaviour. They’re not helping in the slightest of me feeling like a freak. Oh let’s abandon him for a bit it’ll be fine! Real fucking great friends I have apparently. It’s not enough that I don’t know who the fuck I am, that I feel a monster from my past, but the first people I thought gave a shit about me, don’t! I’m getting fucking sidelined, and all I can say is I knew it, I shouldn’t have friends, things were so much easier without them.” 

It was quite the rant, Emperor remaining quiet while it sunk in. “Feel any better?” he asked finally, and Navy could only shrug. He didn’t know if he felt better, but he had lost steam in his irritation towards Emperor. “Either way, certainly interesting to hear inside your head.” 

“Oh fuck off.” 

“Do you honestly want to be alone right now?” 

Navy looked to the side in annoyance, as much as he hated it, Emperor did know him. “Fine, stay. Not like I have anyone else to hang out with.”


	2. Part Two - The Guide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a battle, the two sit outside and have a talk, strangely calmer than usual.

The two stood around outside of Walleye, talking; no yelling, griping, bothering, just simply talking. It was a first for Navy, he always held such animosity towards Emperor, this was a rare chance. “You seem adamant you’re helping me,” he said, looking at the downtown highrises off in the distance. “I can tell you from experience, you aren’t helping me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Emperor replied. “I do help, and have been quite successful. Whether you like it or not, you’re under my wing, have been since the day in the training room.” Navy turned to shoot a disapproving look at him, he failed to answer it, again. “Impatient. Yes, you lose every time we battle, but you still stubbornly agree each time. You have improved significantly since I stepped in, doesn’t matter if you approve of my methods, it’s getting results.” 

Navy huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance. “Then how come I don’t feel like I’ve improved.”

“Turf, last week, I watched you play, you’ve become quite effective at inking rapidly. You target better, and your reflexes have improved.” 

“You watched me play?” 

“Of course, have to keep tabs on all my opponents after all.” 

That didn’t sit well with Navy, knowing Emperor had watched him play. “How often do you watch me?” 

“As of right now, every second week or so. You aren’t threatening me yet, I keep tabs on the S4 more than I do for you.” 

At least there was that, Emperor wasn’t stalking his matches. “I suppose it makes sense to watch my team, Vec is rank X.” 

“He’s not of my concern, N-Pacer would splat him without a second glance. No, I do watch for you specifically, you’re the unknown variable.” 

“Unknown my ass, I use one weapon, have the same routes.” 

Emperor shook his head. “Your weapon, it’s a bit different than most. Some are similar, but not many. You can play whatever role you want, support, defence, offence, whichever you feel like, and I’ve seen you play all three.” Navy shot him a confused look, so Emperor rolled his eyes, unimpressed he had to explain everything. “Dualies are good offensive weapons, they can get in an opponent’s face and out before they have time to react. I know you pride yourself in not getting splatted, every dualie user does.” Navy made to argue, but couldn’t; Emperor was right. “However, you can play defence too, you enjoy the range, and are typically the one to hang back if your team pushes forward, just in case.” 

“Well no duh, it’s stupid strategy to have all four advance, you lose a lot of turf that way.” 

“Lastly, support. Your point sensor, it aids your teammates well, you are in use of it constantly, exposing the opponent. Your special flushes out the opponent, or makes them scatter and panic, creating an edge for your teammates to take advantage of. All three of these you play well, which is the unknown aspect.” 

Navy stared at him, unimpressed. “So because some days I’m aggressively pissy and others I want to be left alone, I’m unpredictable?”

“If you wish to put it like that, yes.” 

“I’m still not good, though, I use a cheap weapon.” This time it was Emperor’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Countless people have told me, to my face, my weapon is cheap, easy, no skills required, unfair, for the weak.” 

Emperor sighed. “That can be said for any weapon, if you dislike it well enough.” 

“I don’t hear about that for other similar class weapons,” Navy muttered. “I’m compared right up there with splooshes and splat rollers.” 

“If you think you have it bad, I’d suggest talking to Eging Jr. since he does, in fact, use the cheapest weapon available.” 

Navy let out a rush of breath as a laugh. “Even the high and mighty king is not immune to loathing specific weapons.” 

“Of course I’m not, everyone has to have things that they dislike enough to be a driving force.” 

“Oh there’s definitely a driving force for me, that I can guarantee.” 

Emperor looked over the inkling with masked approval; he’d succeeded in at least distracting him for a while. “What drives you the most?” 

“Dapples. I do really despise them, but what’s even worse are those who use them. No matter what I know they’ll be the ones to cause trouble.” 

“Care to elaborate?” 

Navy let out a huff. “They’re always jerks. Bag unprovoked-“

“Out of everyone, you cannot handle being bagged?” 

“I can handle it fine, just gets me flustered sometimes, aggravated.” 

Molten eyes glanced at Navy, his body language moving to become more defensive. “Others bag for different reasons, whether they are annoyed at you for dodging them or for splatting them in a way they deem unfair. They do it to intentionally bother you-“ 

“If you tell me to just ignore them, then I suggest you start running.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, no, take notice, but do not stoop to their lowly level. Think of it more as playing with your food. Do not even try to go after them at first, perhaps, or if you’re feeling like it, play to annoy. Taunt, tease, show how fast you are, how well you dodge, be aggressive to surprise them, stand just out of range and move about as though you are dodging shots.” 

For once, Navy could agree with the advice Emperor gave him. “Play with my food... I can do that.” 

“I knew you’d like that. We do have some similarities, after all.” Emperor waited for the usual telling off, that they were nothing alike, but Navy remained quiet. “Another thing I could suggest, is throwing the match. Now, I know you want to be the best, but if you are willing to sacrifice being on top of the team, you throw the match. Ink around, but never go into battle, never help others, and even fully allow yourself to be spawn camped.” 

Navy stayed silent as he thought it over; it made sense, and this was something he could agree with Emperor on. “That could work too, thank you.” 

“Of course throwing doesn’t work for parties, and I can say I’d do what you did.”

“You, intentionally being a jerk? Never saw that coming.”


End file.
